


No Answer

by Bluewolf458



Category: The Sentinel (TV)
Genre: Gen, Sentinel Thursday
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-28
Updated: 2018-10-28
Packaged: 2019-08-08 21:14:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16436906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bluewolf458/pseuds/Bluewolf458
Summary: Jim has been trying to phone Blair... but Blair's phone is dead





	No Answer

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Sentinel Thursday prompt 'charge'

No Answer

by Bluewolf

Jim frowned as he failed - for the third time that morning - to get a reply to his attempts to phone Blair. "For some reason either his phone is switched off or - more likely - he forgot to charge it last night."

Joel looked a little worried at Jim's comment. "Is here anything special he might be doing today that would keep him from answering his phone?"

"Joel, it's not even ringing. Just dead silence. As for anything special... he should be at Rainier right now. He was teaching a class this morning at ten, then he has office hours this afternoon. But he was expecting to be using the afternoon to grade essays - this early in the semester he didn't think any students would turn up."j

"Might he have turned off his phone while he was teaching, then forgot to switch it on again?"

"It's possible." Jim sighed. "It's not as if the call is really urgent - I just wanted to let him know we'd be back in Cascade today, rather than tomorrow." He thought for a moment, then tried another number.

"Ah - hello. Is Suzanne Tomaki there, please? Oh... oh. This is Detective Ellison, Major Crime. How serious...? You don't have any names, I suppose? No, I realize that. Yes... yes. Thank you." He hung up and looked at Joel, worry evident in his eyes. "There's been a fire at Rainier."

"Don't tell me. Harcourt Hall?"

"Yes. Several people have been rushed to Cascade General, but Rainier couldn't give me any names. It was pretty bad... part of the roof collapsed and they're pretty sure there are some people trapped."

"Blair's office is in the basement, right?"

"Yes - but the fire department was called out not long after ten when he'd have been in a classroom - "

He was interrupted by his phone ringing. "Ellison."

"Hi, Jim."

"Chief! You're all right?"

"Oh - you heard about the fire?"

"Yes. I tried to call you to let you know we'd be back today, and couldn't get an answer. Thought you'd maybe forgotten to charge your phone so I called Rainier to get a message to you... Are. You. All. Right?"

"Yes. I was tied up for a bit getting my students out - even though we have regular fire drills, they're never announced beforehand, and there are one or two students who always panic when the alarm sounds. One of the men in the class I had... apparently he was trapped in a burning house when he was about seven, rescued through the window by a fireman - I had a hell of a job to get him to join the rest of the class to go down the stairs rather than stay beside the window waiting for a fireman... He was almost hysterical with terror. I tried telling him it was probably just a drill, even though I could smell smoke... and when we did get out and he saw that it really was a fire... But I managed to calm him down, point out that getting out immediately down the stairs had been the safest option. I'm not sure if it'll help him another time, but...

"Anyway, I had my phone switched off for the hour when I was giving the lecture, and then I was ages calming Ted down. Then I saw I had some missed messages, realized they were from you, and called back."

"Yes - we've had a change of plan. The man Joel and I were to pick up here had a stroke early this morning, and will be in hospital in Tacoma for an indefinite time - maybe a week, maybe a month, possibly longer. The Tacoma police will keep an eye on him. So there was nothing to hold us here, though the earliest we could get a flight is 2.40. We'll be in by 3.15."

"Okay. Do you need me to pick you up?"

"No - we were to be picked up by a Patrol car; we let them know there wouldn't be a prisoner with us, but they're still coming for us."

"Right. So you'll be home by... what, about 4?"

"Probably. I'll make a start on dinner."

"Great. I just have to check on what's happening here tomorrow, then I can come home too - might even beat you back, though it'll probably take TPTB here far longer than they need to decide what to go about us. I would think, though, that the anthropology/archaeology department will be closed till at least Monday while they find accommodation for us in the other buildings. So I'd expect that until next Monday at least I'm all yours."

"Several days devoted purely to police work? Your mind will seize up from boredom, with only one thing to occupy it!"

Blair chuckled. "We'll maybe even get caught up on all your backlog of paperwork."

They hung up, and Jim sighed in relief.

"Kid okay, then?" Joel asked.

"Harcourt Hall is destroyed. Blair's had his hands full with a hysterical fire-phobic student, but now all he needs to find out is where everyone will go - "

"And if Rainier's governing body is as efficient as every other governing body, that could take weeks."

"He's hoping days, but you're probably right. Ah - is that our flight being called?"

They lifted their luggage - fairly small carry-on bags - and headed for their plane, both looking forward to getting home.


End file.
